Computer Chess – the movie

1/21/2013 – In 1980 there was a famous computer chess world championship in Linz, Austria. Thirty years later the American film director Andrew Bujalski has made a film on the subject and captured the atmosphere of the pioneering days of AI with eerily realistic shots. "This film is intelligent to its core, testing its limitations with brave camera work and meta-narrative," writes one reviewer. Take a look.

Computer Chess – the movie

Set over the course of a weekend tournament for chess software programmers some thirty years ago, "Computer Chess" transports viewers to a nostalgic
moment when the contest between technology and the human spirit seemed a little
more up for grabs. We get to know the eccentric geniuses possessed of the vision
to teach a metal box to defeat man, literally, at his own game, laying the groundwork
for artificial intelligence as we know it and will come to know it in the future.

Andrew Bujalski talks about his film, premiering at the 2013 Sundance Film
Festival

Andrew Bujalski has written and directed the films "Funny Ha Ha",
"Mutual Appreciation" and "Beeswax", all of which have appeared
on New York Times critics' "Top Ten of the Year" lists. "Funny
Ha Ha" was also identified by A.O. Scott as one of the Ten Most Influential
Films of the '00s. Between duties to his own projects, Andrew has also worked
as a screenwriter-for-hire and a teacher of film production at Boston University
and the University of Texas. The Boston Globe describes him as "unerringly
polite and somewhat disheveled."

Andrew Bujalski pitching his new film, "Computer Chess" to a
Hollywood executive

Shot from the movie Computer Chess – looking eerily real and from the
80s

The Russian TSAR (original: CAISSA) team playing a game

Click to watch video animations (with commentary) of eight different historical
computer chess games and six different "Hot Old Personal Computers"

Movie review in Screen Cave

This film by writer/director Andrew Bujalski took me by surprise. I was expecting
a relatively straight-forward reflection on a fictional, but realistic, 1980s
computer science competition to develop a chess program that can beat a chess
master. I was shocked and delighted to discover that Computer Chess is much
more like a mockumentary, in the tradition of Best in Show, with a strange,
sci-fi element reminiscent of Primer. This film is intelligent to its core,
testing its limitations with brave camera work and a Lynch-worthy meta-narrative.
Full
review here.

See also

3/4/2013 – Over fifty years ago chess loving school teachers in Hamburg, Germany, created a giant tournament. It started with 160 students and reached a record of 3600 in the giant tournament hall. One team traditionally plays against remote opponents – this time it was a class from Wembley, England. The event was supported by Barcleycard, which is getting involved in Chess in Schools.Discuss

2/22/2013 – It is not the most riviting report we have ever published, but we'll see if you will "like" it anyway – well over 100 reposted the recent Kasparov in Georgia piece in Facebook. The current report is on 51 decisions taken by FIDE during its Presidential Board meeting in Armenia, as well as pictorials of President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov's visits to Mongolia, Beirut and Astrakhan.
What's there not to like?Discuss

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